The miracle of the Widow’s Oil, Hebrews 11:35 and 2 Kings 4:1-7

Now for the story of the Widow’s Oil and the miracle of the oil.
God had an interesting way for the prophet Elisha to meet the woman and her son’s needs.

In the days of Elisha, Elisha met a widow of the company of the prophets. She had debts and the creditor was coming to take her sons as slaves. Elisha had her get as many jars she could and fill them with oil from her one small jar and for the rest of the story read 2 Kings 4:1-7 below to find how God answered her need through Elisha.

Background Reading:

The Widow’s Oil

4:1 Now there happened to be a certain woman who had been the wife of a member of the Guild of Prophets. She cried out to Elisha, “My husband who served you has died, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. But a creditor has come to take away my children into indentured servitude!”

2 Elisha responded, “What shall I do for you? Tell me what you have in your house.”

She replied, “Your servant has nothing in the entire house except for a flask of oil.”

3 He told her, “Go out to all of your neighbors in the surrounding streets and borrow lots of pots from them. Don’t get just a few empty vessels, either. 4 Then go in and shut the door behind you, taking only your children, and pour oil into all of the pots. As each one is filled, set it aside.”

5 So she left Elisha, shut the door behind her and her children, and while they kept on bringing vessels to her, she kept on pouring oil. 6 When the last of the vessels had been filled, she told her son, “Bring me another pot!”

But he replied, “There isn’t even one pot left.” Then the oil stopped flowing. 7 After this, she went and told the man of God what had happened. So he said, “Go sell the oil, pay your debt, and you and your children will be able to live on the proceeds.”2 Kings 4:1-7